Net Neutrality was doomed from the starting gate. Whatever it was supposed to be--other than something sinister advanced by the likes of Soros and Obama--was never really communicated. The silly ass slogan "net neutrality" did not inspire thought or feeling or anything else.
The Internet Bill Of Rights sounds great on pixel but let's think this through. This is not so much a Bill of Rights as it is a set of regulations that favor "us" over "them".
Whatever else might be said Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, et al, they are private companies offering free services. How many people who complain about Google's data mining bother to use a proxy server? How many use the search engine, Duckduckgo?
And yes, Google does bury material that might be unfavorable to say, Barack Obama. A subject that has interested me for about a decade is the Obama Halo. This cheesy ass propaganda campaign might be what got BO elected in 2008. Do a Google search and you will get links to the video game Halo or the song of the same name. Do a Duckduckgo search and you can relive that Jonestown era when friends and family discovered their new deity. An endless stream of small sites who exposed the flim flam.
How many people who complain about Youtube censorship or demonetization post to Bitchute or Dtube or Vimeo? Google owns Youtube and they are no more obligated to post your material than is your local radio station obligated to provide Keith Ellison with three hours to rebut Rush Limbaugh. Do we really want an Internet Fairness Doctrine? Think it through, folks.
I for one am opposed to antitrust laws as we know them. Yes, if they were to be applied to things like public education or civic taxi monopolies or civic cable monopolies or a multitude of professions that use bogus licensure to do all the things that anti-trust laws are supposed to be used to protect the public...then I would be all for antitrust laws.
Unfortunately, antitrust laws are but one more weapon for the politically connected. Howard Hughes was one of the wealthiest men in the world but he woefully lacked political acumen. He would be the target of a wacky application of antitrust for purposes that were never crystal clear.
I mention antitrust laws because some of the same voices who sing the praises of IBOR also advocate for antitrust laws being applied to Google and Facebook. There are dozens if not hundreds of arguments against this sort of action. For brevity sake, let us examine one.
Microsoft was attacked by the Clinton Administration primarily for giving away freebies with their operating system. The Clinton Administration, liquored up by huge donations from Microsoft donors, advanced the absurd viewpoint that the public would be better served if they had to shell out an extra fifty bucks for Netscape Navigator. How dare they provide Internet Explorer for free!
The net result of Clinton's saber-rattling: Microsoft has consummated an amorous relationship with the Democrat Party, with or without the legal sanction of matrimony. Microsoft and her employees have donated millions to the Democrat coffers. MSNBC provides 24/7 promotion of the DNC agenda, as does the MSN portal and the Bing search engine as well. If you think the co-opting of what was once an apolitical corporation is not related to the original threat of antitrust legislation, you might be an idiot. Tread lightly, my friends.
The same people who advocate for IBOR also suggest that the Internet be regulated as a public utility? Do we even need to list all the reasons why that is a bad idea? Do we need to be reminded of the Obama Administration's efforts to use the FCC to regulate (as in shut YOU down forever) the Internet as a public utility? Do we need to point out the obvious differences between the Internet and the delivery of natural gas? Can you heat your house with 5g delivery using your cell phone? Wake up, people! (Or if you prefer, get woke.)
One more wretched idea promoted by the IBOR crowd: Let Donald Trump install his own FTC administrators and then sic them on people we do not like.
So, we won't be draining the swamp, we will just replace the leeches with our own? The mosquitoes will work for us now? The swamp will still produce methane but it will be our methane? Swamps are lovely places. Who doesn't love a swamp and all of its lovely creatures?
Net neutrality, Internet Bill of Rights, FCC regulation, FTC regulation, DOJ interference. The results are all pretty much the same. More control by the Beltway over the citizenry. All of these vehicles that might prop us up can shut us down.
The IBOR wants to use the hammer of justice to reward us and to punish them. This is what happens when we place proper nouns ahead of principles. A preachy reminder: principles endure where people fail us. Red pill.
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